Lanarkshire working mum-of-two crowned 'fittest woman on earth' in CrossFit comp

Publish date: 2024-06-16

A working mum-of-two from East Kilbride proved to be the 'fittest woman on earth' in her age group when she faced-off with competitors from across the globe.

Ali Crawford, 46, qualified in her age-group category for the CrossFit Games this year, held in Madison, Wisconsin - the only Scottish athlete to do so.

And after three days of events Ali, from St Leonards, walked away with the gold medal - an incredible achievement.

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Ali is no stranger to the event, coming second last year in her category and also competing in 2018 in the 40-44 group, finishing 14th.

But she is absolutely delighted to have won this year, walking away with a medal and cash prize.

EDF finance analyst Ali's journey began when she joined CrossFit East Kilbride, now Base Fitness and CrossFit, nine years ago.

"I started taking CrossFit more seriously about six years ago, and in the run up to competitions like this I am training five days a week, sometimes twice a day," she told Lanarkshire Live.

"I have competed in competitions locally, across the UK and in Europe but the CrossFit Games in the States is the big one.

"CrossFit is really any type of exercise - functional fitness at high intensity. It encapsulates so many types of exercise, swimming, running, and even gymnastics and a range of movements.

"I was always quite competitive growing up so that was one of the things that probably got me into the competitive side of things but also because it's very inclusive.

"it's an opportunity for older people to benchmark themselves and compete with people in the same age group as them - there is a 65 and over age group.

"There was one woman from Holland who was competing at 72 - she was incredible doing rope climbs, weights and runs.

"That's what I want to be like at 72."

This year's competition was far from a sure thing Ali, with competitors never quite sure what will be thrown at them.

"There are eight events and while last year there was a lot of things in it I was good at, you never know what's coming up," Ali went on.

"The workouts for me this time round weren't as good. It was harder as there were things in there that I would consider among my weaknesses but somehow I still managed to come away with the title which I was absolutely delighted with."

Due to the expense of the trip Ali couldn't have her husband and her two sons in the States with her but was delighted to have friend and fellow CrossFit member Gillian Bennett at her side.

"I didn't even think Gillian was coming till right before I left - I thought I was going on my own," Ali continued

"But to have someone to share the experience with and give me a bit of support was fantastic. However, I really felt like I had so much support from everyone, including people back home.

"I had so many messages of encouragement and spoke with my family and my coach. I Facetimed my husband and boys after the win and I could tell they were so proud.

"One of my son's, the 18-year-old is also into the Base Fit and CrossFit so my win might have even pushed him to train a little bit harder."

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Ali said she now plans to go back to classes and "enjoy" that environment before she decides where and when she will be competing again.

"I am going to take a couple of weeks off and go back to enjoying classes, then I will decide if I'll go back to the high intensity training," she added.

."But I can't speak highly enough of Base Fit and CrossFit enough - you have fantastic trainers who got me to where I have got to but you don't have to take it as seriously as I do.

"Only about five percent of our members actually compete but it is a great environment which is inclusive of all abilities."

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